Video conferencing systems are becoming more popular in the United States and around the world. In a conventional video conferencing system, one party communicates audio signals and video images to another party (often through a multipoint conferencing server or other unit) and receives audio signals and video images from the other party (indirectly through the server). A problem with conventional video conferencing systems is that the video conferences often consume large amounts of the systems' resources. Also, desktop video phones and mobile communication devices typically have much smaller screens than conventional computers. This often makes it difficult to display video images from many parties during the video conference.